


I’ll Give You a Hand

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Light Angst, Living Together, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 10:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20338645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sasuke was planning to leave the village once again. To rethink his current feelings, to atone his past mistakes. However, first he has to say his goodbye to a blond boy waiting for him in the forest. / Alternative ending of episode 479.





	I’ll Give You a Hand

**‘I didn’t think you'd come to see me off’**, he said to a figure that was standing in the shadow.

Naruto was leaning on a tree and staring at him with concerned face. That was rare to see him this serious and stoic. And this quiet.

He didn’t answer at first, intensively staring into Sasuke’s eyes. That was a very mature look, Sasuke thought. Not challenging, as he used to stare at him in that way, but very thoughtful, even sad and…

"So, you’re leaving again?" Naruto spoke. Sasuke could hear Naruto’s bitter tone.

“I need to be alone and rethink some things. Find my own path…” he answered.

Naruto furrowed his brows and became visibly angrier.

“How long will it take? Are you even planning to come back?” he muttered in irritation.

“I don’t know, maybe months, maybe years… Maybe I won’t come back at all…”

Naruto’s attitude changed. His eyes came back to life again, the spirit of his well known determination took over his whole body. He pushed himself away from the tree and stepped towards Sasuke, clenching fists.

“Sasuke!” he shouted. “If you leave now, it’s gonna be the same as last time. If you leave for another two years… or more…”

Naruto shaked a little and exhaled heavily.

“If you leave… I’ll wait for you” he continued, looking at the ground. “I’ll wait for you, you know it. But… Please, don’t leave. Don’t make me chase you again”, his voice became very quiet.

There was a moment of silence between them. Naruto managed to lift his sight on Sasuke’s face. The Uchiha was staring at him with no expression.

“Stay with me. I don’t want this story to happen again…” Naruto begged, desperately trying to meet Sasuke’s eyes.

To Naruto’s surprise, Sasuke lowered his sight and stared at the ground. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“I’m a criminal, I made a lot of bad things… You lost your arm because of me… I shouldn’t be here… I should deal with it by myself”

Sasuke’s voice compelled Naruto. Under the layer of his typical impassive tone, there was a hint of regret and sadness.

Naruto felt another wave of determination taking over his body. He felt like he could do it. He could convince Sasuke to stay. This time he would make it. His eyes sparkled once again as he asked, not being able to hide his emerging smile:

“And what happened the last time you tried to deal with things by yourself?” he giggled. “Sasuke, I thought you have learned your lesson”, Naruto said with teasing voice.

Sasuke’s eyes widened looking at boy’s face.

"Naruto?"

“For the first time, Sasuke, let me help you”, Naruto made a step towards his friend and grabbed his shoulder. “I’ll give you a hand”, he laughed as he waved his right sleeve that was hanging loosely from his shoulder.

Sasuke exhaled quickly, which Naruto took as a small laugh that left his body. They stood like that for a moment, Sasuke examining the ground again and Naruto examining his face. A few moments passed until Naruto rolled his eyes, moved his hand down to grab Sasuke’s wrists and pulled him towards the village.

“Let’s go, you stubborn idiot”, Naruto casted over his shoulder.

Sasuke let himself be pulled by the blond boy. He heard him laugh and he allowed himself to smile shily when his companion couldn’t see him.

***

Naruto unlocked the door to his apartment and stepped back to let Sasuke enter. Sasuke looked around. The flat was undoubtfully screaming “Naruto”, he thought. There were cups of ramen scattered everywhere, as well as some dirty t-shirts and books that Naruto was studying to become a jonin.

“So, this is how you live?” he asked. “Why did you drag me here anyway?”

“Oh, yeah! I just realized you’ve never been in my apartment…” Naruto mumbled with embarrassment, looking around at the mess he left. “Well, because you don’t really have a place to live, you could stay here for a while…” he answered, scratching the back of his neck.

There were a few moments of an awkward silence between them. Sasuke wanted to refuse, but some part of him kept him silent. He just stared at the ground again, stooping and looking very miserable.

Naruto eyed him. He indeed looked terrible. Was it because of his guilt? Embarrassment? Or inability to express emotions?

“You look pretty dark in it, ya know”, Naruto commented, examining Sasuke’s black robe that made him look like an old man. “Why don’t you make yourself at home and take this off, and I’ll make some ramen?” he suggested.

He went to the kitchen and started to boil the water. Sasuke stood in the corridor and listened to the sounds from the other room. He lifted his hand to the pin that held the robe and unbuttoned it. He managed to take the robe off and hang it near the door. He started to slowly walk to the kitchen. He could hear Naruto cursing over something. Sasuke peeked through the door and saw Naruto trying to pour the ramen with one hand.

He walked in, making a bit of noise.

“Ah, Sasuke!” Naruto exclaimed. “I still didn’t master pouring instant ramen with one hand”, he explained embarrassed, holding a kettle with shaky hand.

Sasuke approached him silently and stood next to Naruto examining the messy counter.

“I’ll give you a hand”, he muttered.

He picked up one of the instant ramen cups and lifted it a bit to make it easier for Naruto to pour it. Focused on their task, they got closer to each other to synchronize their movements.

“Thanks…” Naruto said quietly, blushing. He took a glimpse at Sasuke who at that exact time decided to look at him as well. Their eyes met for a brief moment until Sasuke reached for another cup.

It took Naruto a second to snap back to reality and pour another ramen cup. When it’s done, Sasuke put it back on the counter and so did Naruto with his kettle. They stood there, still close to each other and watched the food getting ready.

Naruto loved instant ramen. But he hated waiting those three minutes till ramen was ready. However, this time he wanted those minutes to be longer. He wanted to stand there for hours, in silence, next to Sasuke, touching his shoulder with his own, being close enough to smell his scent and hear his breath.

Both of them laid their sights on the cups, observing the steam. Sasuke's face was focused, he seemed to patiently wait for his food and nothing else.

Naruto, on the other hand, felt nervous because of the silence they shared. The first minute passed as he was preparing himself to say something.

“Sasuke, I-“, he managed to say.

Sasuke’s head turned to face Naruto’s. The latter was staring intensively on his ramen, blushing hard and avoiding eye contact. Sasuke’s eyes, on the other hand, where glued to the boy’s face, examining it with his Rinnegan.

“I-I just wanted to tell you…” Naruto blurted out.

He blinked a few times. “N-nothing! It’s nothing…” he gasped and quickly moved away from the teen standing next to him.

Sasuke’s hand reached to firmly grab Naruto’s wrist and pull him back where he was standing.

“What did you want to tell me?” he asked with demanding voice, furrowing his brows and looking intensively into Naruto’s eyes.

Naruto’s eyes traveled around the room and avoided Sasuke’s pinning sight. He should have kept his mouth shut, he thought. His sight lied on two cups with already edible ramen.

“Food’s ready!” Naruto screamed ridiculously loud. He grabbed both cups, rushed to put them on the table and encouraged Sasuke to sit down and eat.

Sasuke ate his ramen slowly and watched Naruto trying to inhale it. However, the boy had a lot of troubles with holding his sticks and grabbing noodles. Yet he kept going with terrible results – the table was in mess, as well as his face, all dirty from the soup.

“Usuratonkachi”, Sasuke complained, shaking his head.

He kept his emotionless demeanor as he moved closer to Naruto. He put his own sticks in his ramen and skillfully grabbed some noodles.

“Eat”, he muttered.

Naruto’s face turned bright red. He hesitated for a few seconds but then let Sasuke feed him.

“You lack your right arm, you have it much worse than I do…”, Sasuke pointed out quietly, as if he was just thinking outloud.

“It’s not this bad, you don’t have to…” Naruto stuttered.

“Let _me_ give you a hand this time”, Sasuke insisted and fed him once again.

When Naruto finished his ramen, Sasuke stood up to grab empty cups and throw them away. Naruto was faster to grab his forearm though. He stood up and still holding Sasuke’s arm said:

“Sasuke… I wanted to tell you, that you’re like a brother to me”

Silence.

Sasuke has heard it so many times from Naruto. It was difficult not to roll his eyes at that moment. He avoided his eyes, moved away and tried to grab ramen cups once again. However, Naruto pulled him back.

“No, I didn’t mean that…” he clenched his hand harder on Sasuke’s forearm. “Iruka-sensei is like an older brother to me", he corrected himself. "And you… You’re something different, something more…” he swallowed nervously.

Sasuke’s eyes travelled back to Naruto’s. Naruto’s hand travelled down on Sasuke’s forearm. It delicately stopped on his wrist.

“I only have one brother and it’s Itachi…” Sasuke started with cold voice. “You’re not like a brother to me”

Naruto didn’t know what to think of this answer. Sasuke’s reserved voice put a doubt in boy’s heart. When he was going to let go of Sasuke’s wrist, the latter spoke:

“You’re something different, Naruto…”

He slid his hand into Naruto’s hand. “Something more…”

A few long moments passed when none of them spoke.

Sasuke was the first to withdraw his hand from Naruto’s.

“So, um, are you sure I could stay here?” Sasuke asked quietly.

Naruto almost jumped with happiness. He assured Sasuke that he could stay, and dragged him around the house showing other rooms and occasionally giving Sasuke such things as towels, pillows or mugs for his own use. He didn’t shut his mouth explaining to the Uhicha where he could put his clothes and what kind of ramen he could find in the kitchen and how many tv channels there were.

Eventually Naruto got pretty tired with the tour he gave Sasuke. He collapsed on his bed, almost bouncing on it and stared at the ceiling with a grin on his face.

“I’ll sleep on the floor and you will take the bed, ya know”

Sasuke was surprised and amused with Naruto’s enthusiasm towards the whole situation. He could only imagine what the blonde was thinking at the moment. The smile on his face gave a hint that he was quite happy to have Sasuke as a guest. Probably a long-term guest.

Sasuke slowly crossed the room and drew near the bed. He sat on it, pretending he’s checking if it’s comfortable. Then, he looked around and focused on objects on Naruto’s bedside table. He took the first thing that lied there and played with it in his hands. He was way too deep in thought to even know what he was holding. His blunt stare hung in space.

“Naruto… Thank you”, he managed to speak.

Naruto looked at Sasuke’s figure. He couldn’t see his face. His sight came back to the ceiling.

“Thank you for not leaving me again, Sasuke”, he said calmly.

Sasuke eyes widened hearing this. He turned his face to look at him, but Naruto didn’t change his position.

“What is so interesting on this ceiling, usuratonkachi?” Sasuke asked with a husky voice, hiding his face when he tried to get rid of this one tear running down his cheek.

He lied on his back, next to Naruto, only a gap between them. They stayed in silence for some time, looking at the ceiling, each of them lost in their thoughts. Sasuke thought how much this situation was similar to their last fight, when they lied on the ground next to each other, watching a sunrise. This time, however, it was kind of the opposite. This time there was a sunset light peaking through window. This time Sasuke had to turn his head to the right to look at Naruto. Small changes but much different opportunities. This time Sasuke’s hand was just an inch from Naruto’s and he could touch it any time he wanted. This time they weren’t rivals but… Wait, who were they?, he thought.

Naruto’s hand covered Sasuke’s.

“I’m happy”, he whispered.

Sasuke turned his head to look at him. Naruto kept staring at the ceiling, smiling.

“Me too…”, Sasuke whispered back.

**Author's Note:**

> I would really love to write a continuation for it, however I don't know when I'll be able to do it, if ever. But I hope you liked this canon rewritting.


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